Thursday, August 14, 2008

but still be the biggest and still do what other people tell you to do. You did it to still be a winn

Sociologist Robert Sapolsky wrote an article called testosterone Rules where he concludes that testosterone doesn't necessarily cause aggressive behaivor rather aggressive behavior raises testosterone. He points to how even being put in positions of dominance raises testosterone levels and increases aggressiveness. Even a nerd winning a chess match can raise testosterone. I'd imagine that other hormones and chemicals are involved in Winning and we must seek strategies to win. Of course not every strategy is available to everyone, there's an element of Geworfenheit to it. I'm sure we can deceive ourselves playing out strategies of achievement by fulfilling roles that we arbitrarily see as winning. We can legitamize theses successes by comparing our lives to the roles made famous in our cultural narratives. I think of the roles of Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Brett Anderson, the gender bending, the drug addictions all being available to be absorbed into an identity of an impressionable teenager. Ways for those "skinny boys to be one of girls", to achieve where they couldn't in other areas of mainstream culture. "Here comes success" I can here Iggy Pop laugh.